This chapter examines the effect of Nazi defeat in Tunisia on German morale. The United Nations received many reports across a number of weeks of a marked deterioration in German “morale.” The defeat ...
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This chapter examines the effect of Nazi defeat in Tunisia on German morale. The United Nations received many reports across a number of weeks of a marked deterioration in German “morale.” The defeat in Tunisia, according to these reports, drove home the lesson of Stalingrad and finally shattered the myth of Nazi Germany's invincibility, even for the Nazis. German propaganda was now having to concern itself seriously for the first time with the possibility of defeat. Tales of unrest, of war weariness, even of open opposition were appearing on every hand. For some observers, these items added up to a familiar pattern of impending collapse. The question became urgent whether, in fact, the United Nations had any ground for expecting Germany to repeat the debacle of 1918, from which Adolf Hitler learned a lesson.Less

German Morale After Tunisia : (June 25,1943)

Franz Neumann

Published in print: 2013-07-14

This chapter examines the effect of Nazi defeat in Tunisia on German morale. The United Nations received many reports across a number of weeks of a marked deterioration in German “morale.” The defeat in Tunisia, according to these reports, drove home the lesson of Stalingrad and finally shattered the myth of Nazi Germany's invincibility, even for the Nazis. German propaganda was now having to concern itself seriously for the first time with the possibility of defeat. Tales of unrest, of war weariness, even of open opposition were appearing on every hand. For some observers, these items added up to a familiar pattern of impending collapse. The question became urgent whether, in fact, the United Nations had any ground for expecting Germany to repeat the debacle of 1918, from which Adolf Hitler learned a lesson.

Today our fatigue feels chronic; our anxieties, amplified. Proliferating technologies command our attention. Many people complain of burnout, and economic instability and the threat of ecological catastrophe fill us with dread. We look to the past, imagining life to have once been simpler and slower, but extreme mental and physical stress is not a modern syndrome. Beginning in classical antiquity, this book demonstrates how exhaustion has always been with us and helps us evaluate more critically the narratives we tell ourselves about the phenomenon. Medical, cultural, literary, and biographical sources have cast exhaustion as a biochemical imbalance, a somatic ailment, a viral disease, and a spiritual failing. It has been linked to loss, the alignment of the planets, a perverse desire for death, and social and economic disruption. Pathologized, demonized, sexualized, and even weaponized, exhaustion unites the mind with the body and society in such a way that we attach larger questions of agency, willpower, and well-being to its symptoms. Mapping these political, ideological, and creative currents across centuries of human development, Exhaustion finds in our struggle to overcome weariness a more significant effort to master ourselves.Less

Exhaustion : A History

Anna Katharina Schaffner

Published in print: 2016-06-07

Today our fatigue feels chronic; our anxieties, amplified. Proliferating technologies command our attention. Many people complain of burnout, and economic instability and the threat of ecological catastrophe fill us with dread. We look to the past, imagining life to have once been simpler and slower, but extreme mental and physical stress is not a modern syndrome. Beginning in classical antiquity, this book demonstrates how exhaustion has always been with us and helps us evaluate more critically the narratives we tell ourselves about the phenomenon. Medical, cultural, literary, and biographical sources have cast exhaustion as a biochemical imbalance, a somatic ailment, a viral disease, and a spiritual failing. It has been linked to loss, the alignment of the planets, a perverse desire for death, and social and economic disruption. Pathologized, demonized, sexualized, and even weaponized, exhaustion unites the mind with the body and society in such a way that we attach larger questions of agency, willpower, and well-being to its symptoms. Mapping these political, ideological, and creative currents across centuries of human development, Exhaustion finds in our struggle to overcome weariness a more significant effort to master ourselves.

Britain's involvement in World War I shocked the entire nation. The peace movement's response to the unexpected conflict went through three distinct phases. Firstly, in 1914–15, the old primary ...
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Britain's involvement in World War I shocked the entire nation. The peace movement's response to the unexpected conflict went through three distinct phases. Firstly, in 1914–15, the old primary associations proved unequal to the challenge, and were supplanted, not by ad hoc bodies, but by durable new ones, namely, the Union of Democratic Control, the No-Conscription Fellowship, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the League of Nations Society, and the Women's International League. Secondly, in 1916, conscientious objectors challenged conscription, and a section of the movement began campaigning for a negotiated peace. Thirdly, in 1917–18 war-weariness, the Russian revolutions, and American intervention combined to create a climate in which the movement was able to inject certain of its ideas, most notably the League of Nations, into the political mainstream.Less

Reconstruction, August 1914–December 1918

Martin Ceadel

Published in print: 2000-12-07

Britain's involvement in World War I shocked the entire nation. The peace movement's response to the unexpected conflict went through three distinct phases. Firstly, in 1914–15, the old primary associations proved unequal to the challenge, and were supplanted, not by ad hoc bodies, but by durable new ones, namely, the Union of Democratic Control, the No-Conscription Fellowship, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the League of Nations Society, and the Women's International League. Secondly, in 1916, conscientious objectors challenged conscription, and a section of the movement began campaigning for a negotiated peace. Thirdly, in 1917–18 war-weariness, the Russian revolutions, and American intervention combined to create a climate in which the movement was able to inject certain of its ideas, most notably the League of Nations, into the political mainstream.

M. Keith Harris examines morale among Confederate soldiers in the trenches around Petersburg. Despite common perceptions among later historians that the siege marked the beginning of an inevitable ...
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M. Keith Harris examines morale among Confederate soldiers in the trenches around Petersburg. Despite common perceptions among later historians that the siege marked the beginning of an inevitable slide toward Appomattox, Harris shows that many Rebels remained quite upbeat through the summer. Reading forward in evidence from 1864, rather than backward with full knowledge of the war’s outcome, reveals surprising optimism in Confederate accounts. Harris concedes a degree of war weariness but identifies countervailing forces that bolstered morale. Among these were a belief that soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia, under Lee’s leadership, could hold off the enemy at Petersburg, that Confederate armies in Georgia and the Shenandoah Valley could win victories, and that Union military failures could undo Lincoln and his party in November.Less

We Will Finish the War Here : Confederate Morale in the Petersburg Trenches, June and July 1864

M. Keith Harris

Published in print: 2015-09-25

M. Keith Harris examines morale among Confederate soldiers in the trenches around Petersburg. Despite common perceptions among later historians that the siege marked the beginning of an inevitable slide toward Appomattox, Harris shows that many Rebels remained quite upbeat through the summer. Reading forward in evidence from 1864, rather than backward with full knowledge of the war’s outcome, reveals surprising optimism in Confederate accounts. Harris concedes a degree of war weariness but identifies countervailing forces that bolstered morale. Among these were a belief that soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia, under Lee’s leadership, could hold off the enemy at Petersburg, that Confederate armies in Georgia and the Shenandoah Valley could win victories, and that Union military failures could undo Lincoln and his party in November.

This chapter examines the second volume of Samuel Beckett's letters, which chronicles the beginning of his mature and most celebrated work written in French, including Molloy and Waiting for Godot. ...
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This chapter examines the second volume of Samuel Beckett's letters, which chronicles the beginning of his mature and most celebrated work written in French, including Molloy and Waiting for Godot. It considers Beckett's determination to establish rules for relationships, which emerges again and again in the volume. It argues that rigidly defined and often extravagantly asymmetrical relationships had long been a staple of Beckett's narratives, including Murphy and First Love. It also highlights Beckett's propensity for retreat and sometimes quietism and shows that the story told by his letters is the banal old tale of the dream come true, of rags to riches, of long labors at last rewarded. Throughout all these letters the one piece of information Beckett never fails to convey is how exhausted and weary he is. This attitude of weariness is particularly poignantly struck in letters to Pamela Mitchell.Less

Samuel Beckett

Tim Parks

Published in print: 2016-06-28

This chapter examines the second volume of Samuel Beckett's letters, which chronicles the beginning of his mature and most celebrated work written in French, including Molloy and Waiting for Godot. It considers Beckett's determination to establish rules for relationships, which emerges again and again in the volume. It argues that rigidly defined and often extravagantly asymmetrical relationships had long been a staple of Beckett's narratives, including Murphy and First Love. It also highlights Beckett's propensity for retreat and sometimes quietism and shows that the story told by his letters is the banal old tale of the dream come true, of rags to riches, of long labors at last rewarded. Throughout all these letters the one piece of information Beckett never fails to convey is how exhausted and weary he is. This attitude of weariness is particularly poignantly struck in letters to Pamela Mitchell.